Caitlin steele portfolio talk

On Wednesday we had a previous college student, come into class to give us a talk on her experience on education and future career prospects.  Caitlin steele started college straight after leaving school,  she studied level 2 Art and Design, then moved onto study for 3 years at Heriot Watt University.
At first,  Caitlin studied visual communications, which was mainly working on a computer.  She then done photography, and during her 3rd year at University,  she studied Fashion Communications. I was unsure what this involved, But she explained that fashion communications was more of the editorial and designing part of fashion,  rather than working with clothing.
During the first and second year at University,  Caitlin described how she mainly spent time studying and gaining a wide knowledge about fashion,  which helped her throughout.  Her 3rd year involved a more independent study where she could create her own design style and have more freedom in doing something that was her own.
There were 2 separate portfolios containing photographs which she handed round for us to see. I was amazed at how well the photos were presented, and how minimalistic they were.  The work she had done along the way seemed to be quite a lot, but it was really nice to see only the completed product neatly presented.
For one of her final assessments, Caitlin explained that she was to hand in 3 photographs based on an Art work that inspired her from the National Museum in Edinburgh. The theme for her project was to be based on Social Media,  with the idea of hidden identity, and how people are effected by online social sites in recent years.  For the images,  Caitlin had to create a contemporary feel to her fashion photography.  She found the models and made the outfits for them herself, she also collected other materials to create her vision, Even rubbish was used in one of the images. Jeff Koons was a big inspiration to Caitlin for this project.
The main point I gathered from this talk, was that she felt that completing Level 2 Art and Design at college, was the best thing she done. It gave her a wide view of different techniques and experiences so that she was able to decide which direction of study she wanted to go in. She is very happy with the work she is doing at present at looking into beginning her career in the near future.  Another piece of advice she gave was to speak to people, such as local artists and designers who could also give advice on their experience in education and career if unsure what type of work to do.
Overall,  I thought Caitlin was very informative about her experience in Fashion Communications.  I now feel more confident in deciding what career options are available and have more of an insight into what that course entails.
I took some photographs of the work in Caitlin's portfolio,  I really like the work she has done and I am interested to learn more.